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The cast of HBO Max’s The Pitt have been told their secret character backstories
The Pitt’s Taylor Deardon says the cast have been told character backstory details that haven’t made it onscreen
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The Pitt isn’t like most medical dramas. Each episode of the HBO Max series is set in real time, with an entire season taking place over the course of a 15-hour shift at the hospital. There are some challenges to that, since there is only so much character development and backstory that can be covered in a single shift, which means there is still a lot we don’t know about the staff of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.
However, that doesn’t mean the characters don’t have backstories. In fact, the cast have been told details about their characters that haven’t made it onscreen yet. “Yeah, we have secrets,” Taylor Deardon – who plays Mel on the show – said during a panel at PaleyFest LA 2026. “[Showrunner R. Scott Gemmill] and [executive producer John Wells] sat us all down at the beginning and kind of told us our backstories that may not – we don’t even know if they’ll come out, but it just helped us, especially because it is one day, it’s one shift to live in our characters. What happens is the writer can take you so far and then you have to do the rest of the work.”
Those backstories can come out in unexpected ways... such as the fan-favorite end credits scene from the second season finale, of all things.
“I remember the first time with the karaoke scene, I thought to myself, ‘Oh my god, Mel doesn’t drink. I don’t know how to do this.’ Just a personal decision for Mel,” Deardon continued. “But [Isa Briones, who plays Trinity Santos] was like, ‘But Santos would totally spike her drink.’ That’s right. You do have weird hills to die on that you may not share that are just personal ideas about the character.”
The Pitt is currently streaming on HBO Max.
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